Why I don't like them
- another type of spoke to keep spares of;
- harder to get spokes (the ones I used with my Roval Traverse rear hub build had to be specially ordered from the US and cut to length);
- no industry standards on how hubs are designed, so spoke length calculations can be difficult and hit and miss;
- non-bladed spokes are painful to use because the spoke will turn in the hub flange - pliers are often necessary when truing to stop the spoke from turning;
- must lace wheel in the spoking pattern dictated by the hub geometry (this means you can say do a 2x build on one size to use up some spokes that are 8mm shorter than required for 3x);
- slightly harder to build with as the spokes will fall out of the hub - with j-bend spokes you can put them all in the hub and then lace up without them falling out as you rotate the wheel;
- no real-world advantages in the built wheel. Straight spokes don't make a wheel stronger, stiffer or even lighter compared to using j-bend spokes;
Advantages???
There are some, although for me they don't outweigh the disadvantages:
- can replace spokes without removing cassette etc, although this is not always the case depending on the hub flange arrangement.